The use of technology is becoming more and more prevalent in our classrooms. However, the struggle is always finding out what is out there and how do we implement it effectively? This blog is to share my experience as I continue to grow as an educator and use technology in the classroom.

Last summer, I was searching high and low for possible ways to use the new Chromebooks my students would be coming to school with for the v...

Sunday, June 11, 2017

UPDATED!!! 13 Ways to Enhance Math Lessons with Flipgrid

“How can this be used for math?” This is a question I often hear and even ask myself when it comes to using technology in the classroom.

In today’s math classrooms, we need students to develop a deeper understanding of the math they are learning. It's no longer about completing computational steps correctly. Math today should involve more reasoning, explaining, and students communicating their understanding of the concepts being learned.

Flipgrid is perfect for this! As described on the website, “Flipgrid is a video discussion community for your classroom that supercharges your students’ voices. You add the topics, your students respond with short videos, and everyone engages!”

After discovering Flipgrid as an 4th grade teacher & teaching all subjects, the following year I was moving to teach 6th grade math. So, I immediately asked the question, “How I could use Flipgrid in my math classroom?”

Well, the possibilities are probably endless, first I had ten, but now here are 13 ideas I brainstormed to use Flipgrid with math that can help us get started.

Number Talks. Using Flipgrid helps slow down the pace of the discussion and allows more time for students to think about and respond to the math. Everyone gets to share their voice and add to the conversation.

Weekly Math Problem. This could be done as a review or about the current topic. Mix it up by doing this with another class at your school, district, or across the country! For me, I’ll be teaching five sections of 6th grade math, so this could be a great way for students from other classes to interact with each other.

Student Math Challenge. Put students in control and allow them to provide a math problem for classmates to complete. I like this idea for simple computational practice. My students in the past always loved to challenge each other with different problems. Some healthy organic competition can do wonders in a classroom!

Find the mistake. Post a video or picture of a math problem that was worked out incorrectly and has the wrong answer. Students must then find the error and explain in their response how to solve it correctly.

Would you rather…? Have seen www.wouldyourathermath.com? It’s a website put together by Classroom Chef co-author John Stevens. On the site are tons of scenarios posted that challenge the students to think, solve some math, choose a path and justify their reasoning. The best part is that new ones are continuously added and you can search them by categories!

Student created math tutorials. I can see this happening two ways. The first option is to have students add math tutorial responses on a predetermined math skill. Then share the filled Flipgrid Topic as a resource for others to use. The second option is like a “math help hotline”. Provide a topic where students can post questions or calls for help. Other students can respond with a short how-to tutorial. For either one these options, a screencasting app could be used to create the video and then just upload those videos to Flipgrid.

Math Notes. Flipgrid could be a great way to chronicle all of the different math topics and skills that have been taught in your class. Place either student or teacher created responses that students could go back to if they get stuck and need help. Make sure to have student save or bookmark the link to the grid and they can have access 24/7.

Stump the Teacher. Students pose a math question they already know the answer to and teachers respond with the solution and how it was solved.

Get families involved. An amazing math teacher I met through Flipgrid, Jennifer Saarinen, takes advantage of this platform to have her students' families record responses and solve math problems and learn with the students. For example, She shared with me how when introducing percentages, she created a topic to have family members describe how they use and interact percentages at work, in their daily lives, and the solve a math problem involving percentages with the student. This example leads me on to number ten...

Share real world math experiences. Math is all around us! The more and more students can relate the things they are learning in math to their lives the better. Use Flipgrid and have students share their math experiences that happened outside of the classroom. They can share how they figured out if the had enough money to spend. Have them talk about what measurements they used when cooking a recipe. What angles did they notice at the playground? One of my favorite ways to begin the school year is reading the book Math Curse to my students and have them create their own Math Curse stories. If you do this, students could add their Math Curse questions to Flipgrid for their classmates to answer.

Think, Notice, Wonder. I discovered think, notice, and wonder after reading this blog post. It is another great way to get students to share their mathematical thinking and connections. You provide students with an image prompt and they share what they think, notice, and wonder. The responses don't always have to be math related because the goal is to get students to practice explaining their reasoning and understanding. This strategy is also a great way to help students write about their math. After writing down their response, they can share that via Flipgrid.

Which One Doesn't Belong. I discovered WODB, through the mathupmath.com website. In a blog post here is how they describe how WODB works. "Instead of working on practice problems during a lesson's warm-up, students will observe and reflect upon a graphic displaying four images. They will then apply their mathematical and reasoning skills to decide which of the four items does not belong and also justify why their choice is valid." To me the incredible thing about using WODB prompts there isn't one correct answer. As long as a students make a valid and justifiable answer they are correct. So when answers are shared it generates a fantastic mathematical discussion that can use up an entire class period. Add one of these prompts to a Flipgrid topic and watch the conversation flourish. There is also the wodb.ca website that has ready to use prompts as well.

Convince me that. These are a series of teacher created prompts that I first saw started and shared on Twitter by math teacher Daniel Kaufmann. It's a simple yet genius idea to help students focus on different aspects of a math problem than just solving them because the answer is included. Now students must explain the how, why, process, etc.. behind the solution. Adding a prompt like this to Flipgrid will give all students to share their understanding, learn from others, and dive deeper into mathematical reasoning. You can find a slide deck with "Convine me that" prompts here.

Again these are just some possible ways I’ve brainstormed to use Flipgrid to enhance the mathematical discussion and learning in my classroom. For more amazing ways to use Flipgrid to enhance your math lessons check out the Topic Discovery Library. This is where teachers are sharing the topics they have used in class. Also be sure the check out the #flipgridfever community on Twitter. There are always innovative ideas on how to incorporate this great tool in your classroom.What are your thoughts on these idea? Which idea would you want to try first? How have you used Flipgrid in a math lesson before? Leave me a comment below or connect with me on Twitter@SEANJFAHEY.

Do you want to see more ideas on how to use Flipgrid in your classroom? Check out this amazing blog post by my friend Karly Moura on 15 ways to use Flipgrid in your Class. Also be sure to look up the #FlipgridFever hashtag on Twitter. Teachers from all over are sharing the incredible ways they are using Flipgrid in their classrooms.

Sweet! I am a High School math teacher and just found out about flipgrid. I just made my first flipgrid, https://flipgrid.com/fylgrp2 not sure if I set it up correctly. Maybe I should have called my one grid Geometry and made a separate grid for parallelograms (I think I need the classroom account for that so I will use your promo code) Any suggestions? Let me know

Grids are where you post your topics for students to respond and discuss. My only suggestion would be whenuou introduce it to students don't have it be about math. Let them talk about themselves or something they like. After that introduce it using a math task. Reach out if you need any more help.

These are all great ideas for the math classroom! I just tried out Flipgrid this past June. I am a sixth grade math teacher too! So I am always asking,"Exactly how can this new tool be good for math?" So thank you, thank you! I love the ideas of the student tutorials, real world math sharing, stump the teacher, and student math challenges by fellow math students. I used Flipgrid in lieu of typical homework one night, and asked students to show and explain how they found the mean absolute deviation for a data set and to explain what the mean absolute deviation meant. It was awesome to hear the quiet kids explaining and it really made it clear to me who was just going through the algorithm and who really understood. The down side was that I had over an hour of videos to watch, so this use would not realistically be manageable on a daily basis. My second use was a year end prompt of "Tell me what you enjoyed about 6th grade and give advice for next year's new sixth graders on how to have a great year." The students asked if they could work in pairs or small groups, and I let them and loved the results. Their collaboration was creative and fun and made for a lot fewer videos for me to review. I can't wait to try out your ideas next year! And I am going to use it to have my new students introduce themselves. Maybe even have them create videos to introduce their parents to what it's like to be on our team for meet the teacher night! If I can get my fellow teammates on board, the students could interview the teachers asking us questions that they or their parents have!

I am new to flipgrid. I am trying it tomorrow with my 7th grade math students as a why for them to respond to a journal prompt. I was having trouble figuring a way out to post an equation in the journal question though. Any suggestions? I couldn't find a way to add exponents or fractions.